


Love Potion #9

by RogueCompanion



Series: Halloween Playlist One Shots [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Accidental Kiss Steal, Alcohol, Alternate Universe, F/M, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, House Party, Mildly Dubious Consent, Reylo - Freeform, Unintentional Couple Costumes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 07:11:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16192643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueCompanion/pseuds/RogueCompanion
Summary: Ben attends a Halloween party against his will and drinks a little more than he should have. What happens next is either accident or fate, who can say?





	Love Potion #9

**Author's Note:**

> Story 1 of my Halloween Playlist One Shots.
> 
> Tagged as Mildly Dubious Consent, this is merely a classic trip and kiss. Just wanted to give fair warning.

[](https://imgur.com/dsBdlHe)

There is nothing more depressing than wandering the aisles of one of those pop-up costume stores the day before Halloween. The whole place resembled a grocery store in a zombie apocalypse movie. Shelves almost completely bare, with the sad soundtrack of overplayed, poorly recorded, off brand, classic Halloween tunes in the background. All the good costumes are picked through, and everything left is either too small for normal humans, too big for normal humans, or absolutely hideous.

Thankfully, Ben thought to himself, I am much larger than a normal human. That still didn’t leave him with a whole lot of options, which was irritating, especially when he was doing this whole thing under protest. 

Poe, his childhood friend, had hounded him for the last several weeks about attending his stupid Halloween party. No amount of sending his calls to voicemail, leaving text messages unopened (harder than you’d think, especially if, like Ben, you hated seeing that pop-up notification every time you opened your phone), or staying far away from Facebook and it’s messenger system would deter that fiend. Somehow, that fucker had broken into his apartment last week and waited there for Ben to return from work in order to entrap him into attending this nightmare social situation. 

After drifting through the store several times, he grabbed the most relaxed looking costume and made his way to the front. If he was going to be forced to attend this drunken frat boy-esque rager, he was at least going to be as comfortable as possible. 

After paying, he returned home to wallow in self pity at the situation he found himself in and prepare himself mentally for the following evening. 

~~~

As the start time of Poe’s party neared, Ben found himself dragging his feet. He’d spent the last few hours since getting off of work laying on his couch trying to come up with a valid excuse to not go. He normally wouldn’t have any problem just not showing up, but he knew his tenacious friend would be having none of it this time, and it wouldn’t be completely outside the realm of possibility for the fucker to show up at his apartment with his whole damn party in tow. 

About 5 minutes before he was supposed to be at Poe’s he finally decided to get up and start getting ready. He threw on his costume, which basically amounted to pajamas, or maybe more like scrubs, the rough cotton material itching the skin around the back of his neck and his under arms. He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror dejectedly. He wouldn’t be winning any contests that’s for sure, but he also seemed even less likely to make any kind of impression on anyone so he’d accept that. And good lord did he need a haircut… and a shave. But it was too late now for any of that, not to mention this scruffy look probably helped complete the costume. 

Sighing, he turned around, and walked into the main part of his apartment, making sure everything was turned off and locked up before heading out.

~~~

He wound up being about 45 minutes late, but Poe was lucky he’d shown up at all and therefore really couldn’t complain. The entirety of Poe’s front yard was covered in fake tombstones with stupid puns written on them, lit up by soft ground lighting. Clearly, he’d really gotten into the Halloween spirit as he even went so far as to build up a fence around the whole lawn including an arching entryway. Loud music could be heard all the way from the street, the party well into full swing by this point. He walked right in the front door, as there was no way anyone would be able to hear him knock or ring the bell. 

The house was just as festive on the inside and already packed with people, none of whom Ben recognized at all. How the hell did Poe know this many people? He couldn’t help but wonder. He didn’t think he’d ever met this many people in his whole life, but then, Poe made friends wherever he went. A skill that Ben was absolutely lacking. 

He wondered around the house looking for Poe or anyone he recognized with no luck. He’d be worried he was in the wrong house if he hadn’t been to Poe’s at least once a week for the last several years for movie nights.

He wandered the party for the better part of an hour before he finally spotted Poe coming in through the back door, looking bizarre in a fancy suit with his usually scruffy face clean shaven except for a small pencil mustache above his upper lip, followed by his long time boyfriend Finn dressed in a long leather trench coat and a sword strapped to his back. Poe’s eyes lit up upon seeing him. 

“You made it!” He said in a boisterous voice bringing an unlit cigar up to his mouth, “and you even wore a costume! Interesting choice with the whole inmate thing,” at this he gave a sidelong glance at Finn that he couldn’t quite figure out, “I’m so pleased my friend!” He finished through the side of his mouth as the rest of it was wrapped around the cigar. He embraced his much taller friend gleefully. Clearly, Poe was very close to intoxication at this point.

“Yeah, been here for awhile, just couldn’t find your stupid ass.” Ben said with annoyance in his voice. “So I get he’s Blade, but what the hell are you supposed to be?” He ran his gaze up and down Poe’s body trying to work it out.

“Gomez Addams! Can’t you tell?! I mean, I had issues finding a decent suit that didn’t cost a fortune, but I thought this would at least pull off the look.” Poe suddenly looked a little upset, his lip trembling a bit. Yup, definitely intoxicated.

“Ah, right, yeah. Definitely see it. You pull it off buddy.” Ben said diplomatically, hoping to raise his friends spirits once more. Which appeared to work if the smile that stretched across Poe’s face was anything to go by.

“So are you having fun?” Poe asked settling against the bottle strewn kitchen counter as Finn excused himself to find his friend he’d brought with him, some dude named Ray.

“We’ll it’s hard to say, I’ve really just spent my whole time here looking for you,” Ben said.

Poe jumped up at this revelation and started pouring the contents of bottles into a couple of red plastic cups. 

“Well, let's start you off with something to drink then so you can catch up and join the party. I know crowds like this make you uncomfortable, but maybe a little liquid courage will mellow you out, huh?” Poe winked at him, handing him a full cup and raising his own in a toast.

Ben knocked his cup against Poe’s, “sure, why not? I’m here anyways, might as well give this experience an honest shot.” And then took a large gulp of the cups contents, immediately breaking out into a coughing fit, damn that was strong! 

The two of them continued to chat, working through their drinks, with Poe making more for other guests as they wandered into the kitchen looking for refreshments. 

Before long they decided to make their way into the main part of the house where people were gathered. Poe grabbed his friend by the shoulders, kissing him hastily with a loud ‘muah’ sound before excusing himself to see to his other guests. Poe was an affectionate and emotional drunk, so it certainly wasn’t the first time Ben or any number of Poe’s friends had been on the receiving end of such an action. He found it funny at this point in their friendship, especially on the occasions where Poe followed it up with slurring out that his lips were like pillows before stumbling off. 

Ben was pretty tipsy himself at this point and slowly glanced around the room, trying to decide where best to situate himself. Should he join in the group playing beer pong? The last thing he needed was to mix alcohols, not like he knew what was in his cup, but it definitely wasn’t beer and he didn’t fancy that kind of a hangover. How about the writhing bodies that had formed a dance floor in the middle of the living room? Yeah...even with as much alcohol as he’s consumed, he was not coordinated enough for that. Or perhaps he should join in one of the many smaller more intimate groups spread throughout the room chatting?

He really couldn’t decide and so he wound up leaning against the wall nursing his drink. At one point, Finn approached him, refreshed his drink and attempted to start a conversation with him but was quickly pulled away by another guest. 

Ben finally decided he’d had enough of the party and decided to head out. He was thinking clearly for the most part, but the room was spinning at this point and he really just wanted to retreat home to bed. He’d stayed several hours, so Poe couldn’t say anything about him ducking out early. He resolved to head outside to get some fresh air and order himself an Uber. 

He straightened himself up from his spot against the wall and prepared to head off in the direction of the front door. However, he did not anticipate the wave of dizziness that overcame him and stumbled, falling right into the arms of a woman who happened to be passing by at the time. Had he not been so shocked by it all he would have laughed. 

In the disastrous way his entire life seemed to pan out, in true romcom fashion, he not only fell into this woman’s arms but managed to land with his face pressed firmly against hers. Their lips touching in a mockery of a kiss. It took a few moments for his alcohol addled brain to catch up with what was happening. He quickly but carefully pulled out of the woman’s grasp, not wanting to tumble to the floor in his haste to get off the poor girl.

Eyes wide and face incredibly red, he began to mumble.

“I’m so so sorry! Holy Shit, you have no idea! Are you ok?”

The woman smiled good naturedly at him. She was stunning! Dressed in a cheap nylon cop costume with her chestnut hair pulled back away from her face highlighting her deep hazel eyes. He found himself rather struck dumb by the sight of her, and then the realization that he’d basically just kissed her thundered into his brain and he was mortified. Thank God for that lack of a haircut, at least she wouldn’t see how red his ridiculously large ears were.

During his little meltdown, he missed the way she gave him a once over. And then a twice over. And then a third. Her eyes slowly traveling from his head down the length of his body and even slower back up, focusing on certain parts that she deemed needing more of her attention, repeatedly. She finally shook herself out of her stooper and licked her lips somewhat nervously.

“Given your attire, you seem to already be on the wrong side of the law,” she winked at him playfully the sweet lilt of her British accent doing absolutely nothing to help his current state. “Do you realize that you just assaulted an officer? Stealing a kiss and you haven’t even bought me dinner first! What exactly are you drinking there?” She smiled widely at him and reached out for the cup he’d somehow managed to keep a hold of during their scuffle and had completely forgotten about. She took a sip and grimaced. “My God man! Did you let Poe fix your drinks?” He nodded and she continued, “That was probably a terrible idea. Well, I’m just going to have to confiscate this, it’s clearly a lethal weapon.”

He enjoyed her carefree attitude, and liked that she was playing with him. This whole situation could have ended so badly, so he was grateful that she hadn’t yelled at him, or even worse slapped him. He certainly wouldn’t have blamed her.

“I’m sorry, officer. I promise, I’m usually much better behaved, it’s all just a big misunderstanding. See, my friend seems to think I’m completely inept at talking to other humans, and he’s right. So he fixed me up a special potion to help me not be so horribly awkward, but as you can see it really just intensified my symptoms. But I certainly wouldn’t mind working to correct my crimes, maybe by allowing me to buy you that dinner?” He hoped he sounded much smoother than he felt, because he felt like a freaking doofus.

“Hmmm,” she pretended to think, “I might be willing to let you off with a warning. But don’t let me catch you stumbling into anyone else’s arms.” She gave him a fake hard look of admonishment.

“Absolutely not ma’am!” He held his hands up in mock surrender.

“Ok then,” she said coming to a decision, “I’ll let you get off this time, but next time you won’t be so lucky.” He wasn’t imagining the suggestive tone in that statement was he?

She took another drink from his stolen cup, grimacing only slightly this time. “Well, Given this motor oil you’ve been drinking all night, I can hardly hold you responsible for your actions anyways. But there’s absolutely nothing I can do with you in your inebriated state tonight.”

Ok, he definitely wasn’t missing the flirtatious tone in her voice now. 

“Well, I appreciate that ma’am. The names Ben,” he held out his hand for her to shake. He wasn’t going to just let this interaction end without finding out who she was. For once in his life he was going to take some damn initiative. 

“Rey,” she said grinning broadly and shaking his hand. She seemed to have forgotten to pull her hand away after the brief shake and he wasn’t going to remind her that she should let go. He rather enjoyed the feeling of her much smaller, softer hand in his. 

“Oh! You’re Finn’s Rey,” He exclaimed. “I heard him talking about you earlier, but I must embarrassingly admit, I thought you were a guy.” He was blushing again. 

“A common mistake, I assure you. But my name is spelled with an ‘E’ instead of an ‘A’. Think more like a rey of light, less Dan Aykroyd in Ghostbusters.” She seemed to finally realize she was still holding his hand and sheepishly pulled it away, returning her hand to her side. 

“A Ghostbusters reference?” He gasped dramatically placing his hand over his heart. “ Be still my heart!” They both laughed at this and he decided that her light peal of laughter was probably the best sound he’d ever heard. 

A flurry of motion in his peripheral caught his attention and he turned slightly to see Poe frantically slapping Finn’s arm and grinning, while looking in their direction. 

“I’m not entirely sure how or why, but I think we’ve been set up.” He looked at her sideways with a smile. 

She glanced in the direction he’d just been looking, Finn caught her eyes and threw her two thumbs up and a wink. 

“Whatever could have given you that idea? Couldn’t possibly be a couple of idiot children over there, could it?” The humor in her voice showed him she wasn’t annoyed by the idea. 

“Well, we could always get out of here and avoid the gawking if you’d like?” He offered 

Her grin widened, “I’d like that very much. I’ll drop you off at home big guy,” she emphasized the dropping off part so that he understood she would not be taking advantage of him that evening, no matter how badly he wanted her to, “since you are in no state to drive. I might even let you ride up front instead of the back where the convicts usually go.” She winked at him. 

She grabbed his hand and started leading him out. She let him ride in the front seat after all, and didn’t let go of his hand the whole ride. All was right with the world. 

~~~

1 Year Later

“Are you almost ready babe? We have to leave soon or we’re going to be late for Poe’s party.” Rey’s voice called from the bathroom where she was putting her makeup on. 

Ben was in the bedroom finishing putting on his costume. Rey had tried for weeks to convince him to attend Poe’s annual Halloween party as Tarzan and Jane. But he absolutely refused to spend his night mostly naked surrounded by strangers, no matter how often she told him how hot and buff he was. And she refused his compromise of staying home completely naked. So she finally gave up the idea and came to him with a new one. That is why he was now trying to spirit gum a mask to the side of his face. 

Rey walked out of the bathroom in a stunning ball gown, her hair down and curled around her shoulders. Now he really didn’t want to leave. But after all that effort, there’s no way she’d let him convince her of a night in. 

He finished with his mask about the same time she finished putting her shoes on. He extended his arm to her and she delicately took it. Together they exited their apartment and made their way to the place where this whole thing started.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this one! Look forward to a new One Shot next Friday. In the meantime, hit me up on tumblr if you want!
> 
> And check out my [inspiration playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7JydvzH47sHbxZpY1XG4g4/) if you need some help getting in that Halloween spirit!


End file.
